Wildfires Rage Down Under

In December 2005, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia in conjunction with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology released a report entitled, “Climate change impacts on fire-weather in south-east Australia”. Stating that, “since 1950, rainfall has decreased in south-east Australia, droughts have become more severe and the number of extremely hot days has risen, ” the report went on to conclude that a region with the reputation of already being one of the three most fire-prone areas of the world would likely see, “combined frequencies of days with very high and extreme [Forest Fire Danger Index] ratings,” rise 4-25% by 2020 and 15-70% by 2050.

And while all researchers will agree that no single event can be tied directly to global warming either in its initiation or its severity and duration, the likelihood of a future of similar events for the Australian continent does not look promising. While the southeast region has not seen a considerable rise in maximum temperature over the time period between 1910 and 2000, the minimum temperature has risen significantly.